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Glenn McGrew II checking in!

I feel odd about writing this because I’m new and unknown, but I hope it might give people some idea of how I might fit in. I’d be happy to answer questions posed about my experience, education, etc.

Be warned: This may be more than you wanted, needed or hoped for. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Where on the globe are you? Yes. Whoops, I mean, Milford, Ohio, USA.

What is your main gig? I don’t have one. Having taught English for 10+ years in Indonesia (self-taught teacher), I’ve come to realize just how inadequate English is as an international language, and how vexing it is, too. I enjoy public speaking but I would love to be mentored to become better at it.

I’m a(n):

  • human (fatally), :laughing:
  • unapologetic baldie, :man_bald:
  • passionate advocate for the re-creation of education and the saving of the environment, :earth_africa:
  • lifelong learner, :school:
  • quasi-recovered chocaholic (in that I have learned after stomach pain and palpitations that there IS a limit to how much dark chocolate you can safely eat, and 70% is safer for me than 85%), :chocolate_bar:
  • lapsed video game/screen-time addict, :joystick:
  • recovered TV addict (I don’t count watching stuff on YouTube since it’s mostly either educational or humor, like Jeff Dunham), :tv:
  • retired programmer/systems analyst, :computer:
  • armchair student/enthusiast of history, health, psychology, sociology, politics, and other sciences, :man_scientist:
  • very good chef, as long as you give me a recipe and the ingredients, :man_cook:
  • widower-father of 2 wonderful (minor) kids, :family_man_girl_boy:
  • decent gardener without a garden, :sunflower:
  • philosopher,
  • troubleshooter, problem-solver and process developer, :male_detective:
  • IT-inclined (started using computers in the 1970s, started learning programming in 1980, graduated from MATC in 1993, taught myself hardware, computer maintenance {hard and soft}, malware removal, etc.),
  • blogger, vlogger and erstwhile researcher on a wide variety of topics,
  • overly-sharing, candid and forthright person,
  • opinionated but open-minded discourser,
  • equal-rights advocate (except for individuals and groups that deliberately harm others),
  • empathetic listener and neutral adviser, (you have to tell me whether you just want to be comforted or advised; otherwise, like most men, I’ll advise you),
  • public speaker on education, the environment, bullying, self-improvement, mindfulness and emotions, etc.,
  • lukewarm Deist,
  • avid reader,
  • amateur photographer (but most of my photographs were lost due to a theft),
  • admirer of beautiful things (be they galaxies, rocks, art, animals, plants or other),
  • fan of renaissance faires,
  • devil’s advocate, in the sense that I can debate different perspectives (not in the sense that I worship some incarnation of evil),
  • eclectic music lover,
  • poo-pooer of abstract, cubist, impressionist and other sloppy and disconnected art forms that I could’ve imitated as a child, in general, although there are abstract works that I like,
  • opponent of discriminators, criminals, authoritarians, dictators, fascists, nationalists, elitists, oligarchists, plutarchists, theocrats and a bunch of others, including self-serving/puppet politicians,
  • volunteer,
    and more…

~
I am NOT a:

  • sales & marketing or PR type,
  • diplomat,
  • connector,
  • liar,
  • mathematician,
  • substance abuser (except chocolate…and maybe cinnamon), :roll_eyes:
  • gambler,
  • thief/robber,
  • ex-con…

~
I have:

  • taught myself not to dread washing dishes,
  • taught myself to like, or at least tolerate, almost every food I hated as a kid,
  • introspected for decades,
  • taught myself meditation and mindfulness,
  • developed and used my own form of hypnosis on willing participants (i.e. I won’t rob or embarrass you…much), :grin:
  • taught myself how to overcome insomnia (I can fall asleep in as little as 30 seconds), :sleeping:
  • conquered 4 phobias, :fearful:
  • defeated the fear of public speaking,
  • repaired my damaged self-esteem,
  • beaten back my social anxiety,
  • forgiven those who tormented me, :pray:
  • learned not to be an easy target for bullies, trolls, flamers and other unhappy people by working on emotional self-mastery,
  • emancipated myself from dependency on others as a way of life,
  • chained the demons of depression,
  • the ability to look at the big picture but also zoom in to the details,
  • taught/spoken about English, Science, Health, Social Studies, IT, Psychology (especially dealing with coping with emotions, and motivation), Education (including EQ, MI, Bloom’s Taxonomy and transformative education), the Environment, mindfulness, and a bit more,
  • many, many, many interests and hobbies,
  • the ability to be humorously self-deprecating,
  • an irreverent, off-kilter sense of humor,
  • a critical and selective attitude towards films and TV shows,
  • been on TV several times in Indonesia (not as a star),
  • improved my typing speed by 40 WPM,
  • been a teacher, public speaker, programmer, ILEC specialist (DSL), tech support agent, customer service agent, retail salesperson (candy, restaurants, home needs and aquatic pets stores), door-to-door salesperson, telephone surveyor, warehouse worker, programmer, laborer, sucker (as in “There’s a…”), motivator, student, patient, facilitator, parent, adviser, postal carrier, Census taker, apartment manager, partner, team lead, supervisor, manager, office manager of a charity, academic coordinator, floor manager, general manager, and owner-operator, and so on,
  • sometimes been able to self-diagnose the source of an ailment,
  • been poor and middle-class, never rich,
  • lived in 2 other states (WI & CO) and I was in Indonesia for 15.5 years, where I visited multiple islands as a tourist and educator. I’ve also briefly been to Canada and Mexico, almost every US state, and spent up to 10 days at a time in Singapore; very bored with the whole tourism thing, though, so I’m now an untourist,
  • a love of challenges that make me learn new things and/or exit my comfort zone, although I am not fond of job searches,
  • been discriminated against because of skin color, gender, religion, appearance/garb,
  • I have been sexually harassed, and sexually molested,
  • lost my wife to cancer and family intrigue,
  • been a refugee because of familial persecution,
  • enjoyed many physical activities (white-water rafting/canoeing, rappelling, cave walking, hiking, rock-climbing, volleyball, baseball, martial arts, camping, fishing, sailing, billiards, darts, bowling, etc.) but hated watching sports,
  • locked myself out of my home and car, :wink:
  • ad infinitum, ad nauseum!

LinkedIn link? Glenn McGrew II (I also use WhatsApp, FB and T.)
What is your connection to OGM? Klaus Mager, via multiple conversations on LinkedIn about the environment. I still don’t know what he sees in me. :slight_smile:
What part interests you most? Helping to make the world a better place for all types of Earthlings, re-envisioning education and saving the environment for future generations, even though it seems hopeless.
Extra credit: What are your superpowers? Lactose-driven gas production :dash: :rofl:

If your brain hasn’t fallen asleep by this point, I welcome you to ask questions. I can’t say whether you won’t regret it, though! :laughing:

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Welcome, Glenn!

Do you know what language you might choose instead? Or, is there just one?

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Honestly, I don’t consider myself educated enough on the topic of linguistics, let alone know many languages, so I really can’t say.

Gotcha. :slight_smile:

These are some of the problems with English:

  • phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, and double entendre usage, as with slang, are challenging to learn because of inconsistent/nonexistent rules; contradictory and multiple meanings; the inability to make a literal interpretation/translation of them to achieve understanding; culture-based so people, also English speakers, in another part of the same country may not understand because they are localized/regionalized. In the case of idioms, they must be thought out and, because of changes in historical grammar and vocabulary, even native English speakers are challenged by them
  • non-phonetic spelling with highly variable rules that requires everyone to memorize each word’s spelling
  • localized/regionalized words and phrases
  • extraneous letters of the alphabet (c, q, x)
  • letters, especially vowels, with too many different pronunciations
  • some illogical/arbitrary rules that could be made logical
  • inconsistent rules for pronunciation
  • inconsistent rules for pluralization
  • inconsistent rules for the forms of verbs (present, past, perfect)
  • inconsistent rules for “be” verbs
  • forms/spelling of pronouns are inconsistent
  • only one “polite” pronoun set, and none for “atypically” gendered people
  • no differentiation between singular and plural “you”
  • no plural forms of “he,” “she,” “it” except the all-inclusive “they”
  • confusing usage rules for past, present, and future verbs, especially perfect
  • no way to use an exclusive vs inclusive pronoun (e.g. “we” including the listeners and “we” excluding them)
  • poor standardization of all aspects due to English containing 150 or more languages, but based primarily on French, German, Latin (almost 1/3 each), and Greek (10%)
  • no global standardization because the leaders refuse to agree (British, Canadian, American, South African, Singaporean, Australian, etc. all differ from each other and require moderation in order for people to communicate with each other correctly, and that’s further complicated by the accents). Even if they did agree, it would be hard to achieve standardization across the globe in ANY existing language with multiple versions because of linguistic drift and people’s stubbornness
  • an overly robust vocabulary with too many true synonyms, and many words that have multiple meanings, sometimes to the point of taking up a page or two in the dictionary (e.g. have)
  • sometimes vernacular that contravenes the rules and makes use of words that are the opposite of the intended meaning (e.g. bad for good) or otherwise confuse the meaning
  • reliance on legalese to obfuscate laws and other legal issues (i.e. no standard that everyone can understand)
  • non-standardization of introduced words (i.e. loanwords, new words, technical jargon, etc.)
  • words used almost exclusively in only spoken OR written language (e.g. don/doff)

Some things are very nuanced in English, but this is probably true of most languages, and I don’t necessarily think this is a part of the problem.

Slang and language drift are problems that are virtually uncontrollable, so I don’t really consider them.

Another problem that actually stems from both education and the vernacular is the imprecise usage of English.

I can also say that languages that using gender-based spelling and/or qualifiers (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc.) create problems because then people have to remember the “gender” of hundreds of thousands of things that have no gender.

I am not at all convinced that non-alphabetic languages are a good choice because it requires the memorization of thousands and thousands of different characters - an alphabet is required. I haven’t learned about syllabary languages so I cannot comment on them.

Please put your boots in the trunk, and then put your trunk in the boot. :wink:

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I loved that! Thanks for sharing! It’s got much better humor than Monty Python, and much more sophisticated than Benny Hill and Mister Bean. Not sure how it compares to Fawlty Towers, but it made the presentation a lot more fun!

350 languages, eh? I guess I didn’t dig hard enough to find the 150 languages I found while researching. Or maybe some of them were added after I did my research? :wink:

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Everyone is new and unknown in some places and at some times!

Welcome!

Amazing introduction posts!

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Thank you, Rob. I appreciate it!